Violation: Police arrest 29 for misuse of loudspeakers

Crackdown launched against hate material, wall-chalking

LAHORE: Police registered a case on Friday against the prayer leader of a mosque in Mughalpura under the Punjab Control of Loudspeakers Ordinance.

A police spokesman said the FIR was registered against Faisal Sher Abid after Fajr prayers early on Friday morning.

He said later, some residents of the area protested and blocked Shalamar Link road for traffic and chanted slogans.

Lahore police said they had arrested 29 people and registered 58 cases on Thursday-Friday for violating the ban on use of loudspeakers, wall chalking, inciting hate and for carrying banned literature.

Operations DIG Haider Ashraf said search operations were conducted in several parts of the city. He added police had launched a crackdown on misuse of loudspeakers.

“FIRs would be registered on the spot against those found violating the rules,” he said.

Hate material

Separately, police said they had registered 593 cases related to the misuse of loudspeakers and arrested 297 people in the province  on Thursday-Friday. They said 16 cases had been registered over provocative speeches; 130 people had been arrested. Twenty-five were arrested for wall-chalking. Those inciting citizens to anti-state activities would be dealt with strictly, IGP Mushtaq Sukhera said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.